Message from the Governor

The Battle of Okinawa was the only land battle that took place on Japanese soil. The fierce fighting, which continued for 90 days, left the islands were left devastated by its end, and countless precious lives and irreplaceable cultural assets were lost in the process.

Okinawa mourned and consoled the spirits of the many victims that were lost. To never repeat such tragedies of war and to pass on the lessons that we learned to the future generations, we have declared June 23rd “Okinawa Memorial Day” and worked on a number of projects to deliver our message of peace. These efforts include the establishment of the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum and the Cornerstone of Peace, and the awarding of the Okinawa Peace Prize.

We will soon mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. With the advancing years of those who survived the ravages of war, we are seeing a decline in opportunities to hear first-hand experiences of the Battle of Okinawa. Consequently and with this, we are left with a deep concern that the memories of that war will only remain in unconvincing and weathered records that may seem like tales far from reality.

With these concerns, we are setting forth on a new project to deliver our messages of peace and to pass on the memories of the Battle of Okinawa to the next generation, and opening the Peace Learning Archive in Okinawa to the public.

The Peace Learning Archive in OKINAWA is a pluralistic digital archive that displays documents and materials from the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Museum and Okinawa Prefectural Archives, multilayered on a digitalized map. The Archives will contain actual experiences, photographs, and maps from that time in 1945, overlaid with aerial photos taken in current as well as tridimensional terrain. It will allow the user to cross over time and space for a panoramic view of the Battle of Okinawa, and learn of the realities and plight of the war multilaterally and comprehensively.

It is our hope that through the Peace Learning Archive in OKINAWA, a great number of people across borders and generations will know about the tragic realities of the Battle of Okinawa. Through knowledge, our earnest wish is for all peoples to develop strong aspirations for, and bring to pass, everlasting peace throughout the world.